[The purpose of this contest is to provide me with a new perspective on my own design, to push me out of my own restrictions and to expose the game to the communityread this?) for game called Hell for Leather. They're 7 lines long (see below).

I was enormously impressed with the quality of submissions. In this post I outline what I've learned, point you to the runners up and finally close with the winner.

If you write a contest, make it easy to enter. That's what I learned from this project. By that, not only do I mean make it simple and clean, but also make it attractive. I'd originally titled the contest "Build me a Frame." As soon as I called it "Write 7 Lines in 10 Days" people took interest. It seems obvious in hindsight.

If you want to break English, make sure you tell people that's what you're doing. In Hell for Leather Checkpoints don't mean locations, they mean tasks. This was completely miscommunicated. Unless you play specific kinds of shooty video games, the word "Checkpoint" means a point at which a check is made. Did I highlight the difference in the contest? Did I go out of my way to translate my intention? Check the submissions. They shout my mistake.

WinnerBefore I announce the winner, a special nod to Ron Edwards, Joe Murphy, Joe McDonald and Pete for trying to bend the game. You are rebellious and inspiring.

Now, on to the potatoes of the contest. Baruuummmm Baruuuuump! Congratulations to Sam Zeitlin for his winning entry, The Most Dangerous Game. It's off kilter, colourful and open to massive interpretation, yet it's clean, simple and direct. Maximum points for elegance.

If you want to break English, make sure you tell people that's what you're doing. In Hell for Leather Checkpoints don't mean locations, they mean tasks. This was completely miscommunicated. Unless you play specific kinds of shooty video games, the word "Checkpoint" means a point at which a check is made. Did I highlight the difference in the contest? Did I go out of my way to translate my intention? Check the submissions. They shout my mistake.

Hmm, I understood the checkpoints to be tasks which is why I worded them the way I did. They involve places but not specific enough and include some sort of action in them.

May I ask how I was supposed to have worded the frame? out of curiosity's sake. (Luckily I am not a cat).

In your case the wording was fine. But there was a bit of a miscommunication of template. In Hell for Leather, there are only 3 Checkpoints and each is themed (Covert, Overt & Access). In your entry there were many Checkpoints and lots of them were passive.

If you could refine your Checkpoints, I'd love to post your Frame on the Cobweb Games wiki. Have a look through this PDF if you're looking for guidelines.

Setting: Near Past, Lovcraftian, Remote Boston SuburbAdversary: The dark entity under the SuburbGore Threshold: 4Connection: High School Field Trip Attendees Incl 2 TeachersDrop-Off: Town Square, dropped off by school busObjective: Stay Alive, stay sane, and escapeCheckpoints: Find the Teachers who are the guides for a tour of tunnels dug during the Revolutionary War, Witness the Dark Entity in the tunnels corrupt the Teachers into cannibalistic monsters, Escape to the next town through unmapped tunnels and their population of twisted creatures.In Lovecraftian stories, it is really difficult for people to destroy the evil menace. What usually happens is that their sanity is chipped away because they were shown a part of the universe that is usually veiled to the human race. This is why the second checkpoint is a witness event instead of a combat one.

I guess that Lovecraft cannot be plugged into the Hell for Leather engine so easily. Hell for Leather is very much a game of grand objectives. If you run a game where the Checkpoint is to witness something, there will be a point in the session where everyone gets stumped. When you set a Challenge or describe a Backdrop, you are trying to bring your team toward your next Checkpoint. If that Checkpoint is passive, things get clumpy very quickly.

A better solution would be:

Checkpoints: Sneak through the underground tunnels of the Dark Things, Defeat the Teachers (who have become cannibalistic from cosmic Terror), Climb the back of the Spiny Beast to escape the tunnels into the next town.

The first Checkpoint might be a too vague to function, but essentially these are the types of tasks that need to be set in the Frame. Hell for Leather works best when you can accomplish tasks through murder. If there isn't anything to murder, the game won't work so well. I think Lovecraftian horror breaks the warranty.

This game is a bit different from ones I've played before and I would naturally think of many different checkpoints or turns in the scenario. I guess I think that way due to how novels are laid out in different chapters where you build up to the climax which might be a couple of chapters and then transition to the conclusion.

So, keeping that in mind, I might come to this version of the frame:

Setting: Near Past, Lovcraftian, Remote Boston SuburbAdversary: The dark entity under the SuburbGore Threshold: 4Connection: High School Field Trip Attendees Incl 2 TeachersDrop-Off: Town Square, Office of TourismObjective: Escape from the townCheckpoints: Explore dark Revolutionary War tunnels for an exit while avoiding twisted creatures; Destroy twisted, cannibalistic teacher sent by the entity; Escape through the only exit which is located in dark entity's cavern